SJH online Lectures

The Society of Jewellery Historians carries out a full programme of lectures related to all aspects of jewellery each year. SJH lectures are delivered live at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, recorded simultaneously together with questions from the audience, and made available to members shortly afterwards, whenever possible. For the current lecture programme, click here.

For a list of past lectures which can be watched online, click here.

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25 February 2025

Emma Rutherford

Jewelled frames and painted jewels in Tudor and Stuart Portrait Miniatures

Portrait miniatures were secret, portable, often exquisitely painted likenesses, housed in elaborate and costly lockets. The jewels worn by the sitters often conveyed hidden meanings, as well as love, status, loyalty or power. Miniatures were objects that had the ability to communicate meaning and the way in which they were worn aided that purpose. This can be seen in the words of a 16th-century observer, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who recalled, with an evident frisson, how a lady at court he admired wore his miniature ‘about her neck so low that she yet hid it under her breasts’.
In her talk, art historian Emma Rutherford will discuss the settings for portrait miniatures, which, as an art form, began in the 1520s. Nicholas Hilliard, who was trained as a goldsmith, is of particular interest and was responsible for the image of Queen Elizabeth I from the 1570s. Emma will also look at the jewels worn by sitters in early miniatures and how they were painted by the artists who observed them at first hand.